Egypt Independent

Muslims were kicked off planes for ‘speaking Arabic’ in 2016

Last Week an American social media celebrity 'Adam Saleh' posted a video alleging that he was removed from a plane heading from London to New York along with a friend after speaking Arabic on the aircraft.

"We're getting kicked off because we spoke a different language, this is 2016. Delta airlines are kicking us out because we spoke a different language." Saleh said in the video.

Delta Airlines released a statement on its website that said that two customers were removed from this flight and later rebooked after a disturbance in the cabin resulted in more than 20 customers expressing their discomfort. "We are taking allegations of discrimination very seriously; our culture requires treating others with respect," the statement said.

The video went viral on social media and was shared by more than 500,000 vieweres amid popular anger over discrimination and concerns over the return of Islamophobia.

Actually, this incident is not the first of its kind to occur in 2016, as that year saw several incidents of Muslims being kicked out from planes with no clear explanation except that they are "Muslims" and other passengers are feeling discomfort.

In April 2016, a Somali Muslim veiled woman was asked to leave the plane at the Chicago airport without giving any explanations; it was after she asked the passenger next to her to exchange seats.

When the police asked the flight attendant for the reason of the passenger's complaint against the Somali one, she said that there was no reason, and it was because she did not feel comfortable with her presence on board.

During the same month, Southwest Airlines ejected an Iraqi refugee in the United States after he made a phone call on the aircraft to his family in Baghdad. He was speaking to his uncle in Arabic about a dinner he had in the United Nations with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The Iraqi was then asked by the crew to leave, because a passenger suspected him during the call.

In July 2016 one of American Airlines flight attendants kicked out a Muslim passenger named Mohamed Ahmed Radwan; the flight attendant announced the passenger's name publicly and number of his seat four times saying "Mohamed Ahmed, Seat 25-A: I will be watching you".

Radwan asked her about the reason but she said that she will be watching all the passengers not only him. When Radwan was expelled he asked for the explanation, and the crew said that it was because the flight attendant was not feeling safe with his presence.

While the British authorities arrested a Muslim passenger on charges of terrorism, after one of the airplane crew saw her reading a book in Arabic. The passenger's name is Faiza Shaheen, and she works in developing teen's behavior to prevent them from adopting radical thinking.

On her way back from her honeymoon trip from Marmaris in Turkey she was arrested by the British authorities in Doncaster Airport under Title VII of the Terrorism Act; but then the authorities discovered that the book was dealing with art and culture in Syria.

In August 2016 American Airlines kicked out two Muslim ladies after one of the plane crew complained of feeling unsafe. Niala Mohamed one of the two passengers said that they were prevented from purchasing food and water and asked to leave the plane.

Niala Mohamed

Meanwhile, during the same month, a Muslim couple named Faisal and Nazia accused Delta Airlines of being Islamophobic because they were expelled from a plane flying from Paris to Cincinnati, after the crew noticed that the couple were sweating and usig the word 'Allah' in their conversation.

While Sayed Adam Ahmed, 6 years old, from Canada was prevented from boarding a plane, because he was on the most dangerous travelers list; although the authorities had promised his family to remove his name from that list, the child was prevented from boarding the Canadian airline flight.

The family does not have any explanation for their son's name being on that list, they believe it may be because he carries the same name as one of the terrorists, but still the reason is illogical.

While an economist who belongs to the Ivy Mathematical Association was forced to leave a US Airways airplane after one of the passengers suspected the mathematical equations that were written in Arabic, and he thought that the economist was a terrorist.